台北書店 Ｘ 素食之旅（三觀城）

續《書》

－－－－－－－－－－

《城》

大蕃薯在台北吃的第一樣食物居然是便利店的麻醬冷麵。那碗冷麵普普通通，卻是楔機，讓大蕃薯初嘗台灣的慢活文化。據悉台灣近年亦如香港一樣面對壟斷問題，主角是便利店，但不得不說，在台北所見的便利店，仍有一可取之處未見於香港。台北的便利店幾乎都設有座位，至少會有幾個靠窗位置，店面稍為寬敞的，會有面對面坐那種桌椅，大蕃薯和朋友正是坐在這種桌椅上吃麵，然後順勢看中了擺在附近一本雜誌，買來在便利店慢讀。因為設有座位，便利店不止有買賣日用品的功能，無意中製造了一個讓市民交流休憩之所，想稍息想吃點東西充電，不必特地找一家咖啡店或茶館，就這樣自自然然地，在便利店歇腳。

這種留白，一如這個城市好多其他類似設計，讓人稍為抽離一下急促的上班生活，抖抖氣再繼續工作。例如台北的交通公具好多都無安裝電子螢幕，乘客不必被逼收看各種各樣聲色犬馬密集攻勢的廣告，大蕃薯稍稍觀察過，人們都是安靜地搭車，用智能電話、聽音樂的人不多，只是間中有互不相認的乘客在閒聊，分享生活點滴。市內大部份捷運站仍採用舊式設計，月台並無上蓋，從大堂可直接看到月台，只留兩邊行人通路，連接站內兩端出口，所以站內並無商店，市民不受過多消費引誘，也不見過多資訊充斥，捷運只是老實地維持她的基本功能－－載客。車站內還有好幾個以人為本的設計，例如愛心傘、廁格空置顯示板等等，由此看得出這個城市懂得為人設想。

在台灣，小販隨處可見，而且管理得很好，為城市注入靈魂，大蕃薯很羨慕這種風氣，市民尊重小販，小販們注意衛生，不阻街、不搶地盤（或者有但大蕃薯無看到），各攤老實地做生意，專注地做那麼一兩款美食，份量充足、定價合理，即使生意好也不會賺到盡，也不會將別人那杯羹也搶來做，隨處都是普羅大眾負擔得起的美食。在香港，小販曾經默默地支撐著社會，可是經年被政府掃蕩和抺黑之後，現在只能在一些邊緣社區見到他們的行蹤。小店亦悉數被大型連鎖店擠走，只剩下中看不中用的首飾店、電子產品店和過剩的藥房。這個社會大概很多人都想發達，只是想著要發達的人也許更多，這麼的一群人，現實中只想踏實地做自己喜歡的小生意，要是能養活自己、養活家人，那是多麼值得鼓勵的事啊。

台北市的樓房仍然有建騎樓，這種傳統華南地區設計，為途人遮光擋雨，即使下大雨亦不至太狼狽。騎樓下容納小販和地攤，在轉角處形成一個個微形社區。以上這些，或者都是無心插柳，卻似身體細胞，每一個都不最重要，但每一個都默默耕耘，各司其職，築起一個健康、有風格、有思想的城市。

－－後記－－

拋開相機，將這趟將旅行還原成最根本的旅行。雙眸就是最好的相機。

（完）




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台北書店 Ｘ 素食之旅（二尋書）

續《食》

－－－－－－－－－－

《書》

人所共知，書店經營困難。在台北，不少獨立書店都行「書啡店」路線。

【伊聖詩私房書櫃】
這家書店我們拜訪了兩次，就在颱風前後。伊聖詩選書主題為環保、自然、飲食等，也兼賣少量獨立音樂唱片和雜誌。店內除了賣書和咖啡外，有賣手工麵包、手工水餃、本地蔬果、甜品等，侍應非常敬業，清楚知道每樣食品的成分，得知大蕃薯食全素，推薦了五款全素麵包，剛好都是大蕃薯愛吃的意大利麵包。

在台北，很多服務員都很細心，例如旅舍櫃枱職員會記得我們在早上登記過之類的。而伊聖詩私房書櫃裡那位侍應就更好記性，我們第二次去光顧，同行朋友想食手工水餃，剛好沽清了，他就請朋友吃另一款（私藏？）水餃，他記得大蕃薯食素，無法享用水餃，就做了一盤沙律給大蕃薯，還細心地問能不能加洋葱。店內佈置得很巧妙，利用間隔和燈光劃出不同空間，令每張枱的客人享有私隱，即使賴著不走也不會覺得尷尬（大蕃薯是打書釘常客，深諳此道，嘻嘻......）

兩次拜訪，伊聖詩店內總是播著同一張唱片，歌單只有兩首歌，我們聽了兩個下午，把旋律都背熟了......如果有伊聖詩店員讀到本誌，請考慮不時更換唱片......

【田園城市風格書店】
此店應該備有最齊全的獨立雜誌（Zine），每一本都載著創作人的心血。雖然大部份人無法理解，但茫茫人海中，總有一兩個知音人，看後會熱淚盈眶，覺得總算找到一個跟自己一樣的瘋子（誇張），然後乖乖地掏腰包付錢......大蕃薯買了《本冊別冊》和《風土痣》，《本冊別冊》由亻占空間出版，紀錄他們在台中設計工作室的過程，內裡講及好多概念，大蕃薯頗有共鳴，覺得他們蠻有自己想法的。《風土痣》是大蕃薯見過版面最大的雜誌，拉開橫幅的話，是一張半Ａ２紙。那期主題圍繞種子，能夠以所有篇幅去講述如此細微之物，創作人應該花了好多時間深入觀察和搜集資料。

田園城市店內設計就是讓客人圍著中間的展示枱走一圈，貼牆是書架，本來平平無奇的一條動線，卻因為在最後面加高地台，再加了一級寬闊的樓梯，變出半層，讓人走上再走下，動線變得靈活起來，視覺上令人覺得有兩個空間，一是站在平地上看那個，二是站在半層上看那個。那級樓梯亦兼具座位功能，拿了本書就坐在上面看，隨意率性。

【Zeelandia Travel and Books】
書店位於二樓，大閘上亦只有一個不太起眼的牌子，有心人才能找到喔。市面一般旅遊書以工具書為主，Zeelandia裡更多的是介紹主題旅行和遊記。在網絡資訊泛濫的年代，背包行也不一定要買旅行書，反而遊記的魅力有增無減，當社交網絡充斥著一幅幅同一場景、同一姿勢的照片，遊記裡獨一無二的故事就更顯得彌足珍貴。

一入門口，大蕃薯就被眼前一堆古地圖迷住了......店主親切地向我們介紹幾張精選，大蕃薯看得出她對旅遊那份熱愛。在科技落後的舊日，地圖總是三分寫實七分想像，這度想像空間，給世界添了點神秘色彩。能夠活在容許幻想的時代，是另類的幸福。

【墨品良行】
不論電子產品如何流行，大蕃薯仍對實體紙品有份執著。有這份執著的人，請抽空去拜訪，他們那份質感和詩意，只能親手去感受。

衷心希望這些小店都能生存下去，在有限的人生和生活的制肘中，能夠做到自己喜歡和開心的事，人生也不過如斯吧。

（待續：三觀城）



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台北書店 Ｘ 素食之旅（一曰食）

這是一趟無景點之旅。有別以往那些奔走於各種地標之間的背包行，今次大蕃薯和友人在台北泡了五天書店和咖啡店，還窩在旅舍度過了颱風麥德姆駕蒞那個早上。無景點、無打卡、無影相，我們就這樣穿梭於巷弄之間，依著福爾摩沙書店地圖冊、到埗後買下的休閒雜誌，和書店瑰贈的溫羅汀書店地圖，去拜訪那些個性獨立書店，以心和文字去記住這個城市的光、影、聲、色、味、覺。

因為無照片，就以文字安靜地寫下這篇遊記。

《食》

在尋店之先，抵埗當晚，我們先去【小心上癮】火鍋店，會一會台灣素食網站【蕃茄小屋】兩位主編。大蕃薯早在未食素之前，已是蕃茄小屋的讀者，如今謝謝兩位主編的賞識，刊登拙文，讓小妹有機會過過作者癮 :D

小心上癮的麻辣湯底果然夠料，除了麻、辣之外，還有各種養生中藥材，材料下鍋之前別忘了先喝幾口～同行朋友不吃素，卻也對這湯底讚不絶口，一路讚到我們回到旅舍。除了火鍋之外，主編還向我們推薦香樁拌麵和炸原條杏鮑菇，都食得出店家的用心。平常大蕃薯很少吃炸物，因為蔬菜天婦羅等通常都有用蛋來做炸漿，可是這道炸原條杏鮑菇是全素的，可以開懷地吃！

火鍋材料有好幾十種，店家有清楚標示是哪種素食，幾乎都是全素的。大蕃薯最喜歡的是山藥、南瓜、芋頭等，據兩位主編介紹，在台灣火鍋店裡，這幾種蔬菜一般是本地的，因為是鎮店之寶，老闆都會慎選來源。在湯裡熬了半個小時，芋頭吸飽湯汁，又粉又香。在寶島，大家可以輕易地吃到本地蔬果，很幸福，這種與土地連結之味，實非那種靠過度包裝來吸引消費者、只剩下一絲氣息的進口農作物可取代。

台灣不愧亞洲素食天堂，在台北，幾乎每一家小店餐館都有素食，這幾日大蕃薯吃過素煎餃、素煎包、素飯糰、素滷味、麻醬麵、素菓子等等，大蕃薯是芝麻控，在台北，日日都找到各式各樣的芝麻美食，而且全都價廉物美，讓人在短短幾日內忍不住一再光顧！

在颱風離開那個晚上，我們去逛寧夏夜市，雖然夜市素食不多，卻讓大蕃薯找到一檔水煎包，賣著三、四款素包，有高麗菜、芋泥、黑芝麻和紅豆，大蕃薯本來只買了高麗菜、黑芝麻各一。這檔煎包外皮很薄，煎得金黃均勻，一口咬下去已是滿口黑芝麻餡，炒得很香而且甜膩適中。那時我們已經打算回去旅舍，正在走去捷運站，大蕃薯咬了第一口，芝麻包水準之高叫大蕃薯決定立刻折返再買，老闆娘看我們回來了，頗為驚訝，大蕃薯也很驚訝，因為實在太好味了！！大蕃薯無記下店名，位置倒是記得清楚，面北靠右那一行，近民生西路那端，那裡附近只有一檔煎包，不難辨認。煎包每個盛惠台幣十二元。

大蕃薯喜歡台北的早餐文化，一早醒來，在旅舍附近逛了一圈（台北捷運車站M8出口附近），街上小店和攤檔賣著各式各種的早餐，有中有西，好不熱鬧。公園路近許昌街那頭有間小店賣飯糰，即叫即做，裡面裏了兩截粗粗的油炸鬼，好多好多炸菜絲、雪菜絲、和素香鬆。店外總是有一條不短不長的人龍，排隊時看著店小二以俐落的手法包起一條飯糰，也是一件賞心悅目之事。

（待續：二尋書）




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Best spaghetti @ Venezia, Italy

I was so lucky to tried some really good representation of the typical Italian food in the two-week journey. First was the pizza in Rome, then came the risotto in Siena, and at last the spaghetti in Venice.

We reached that restaurant by coincidence. We jumped off the water bus a few stops earlier, then we followed other passages to walk into the maze like city. After a few turns we saw this restaurant. My friend was really craving for the squid spaghetti (Not veggie!) and we asked the chef if they had it. It was still early and there were no other customers.

Sometimes we need to rely on our intuition to seek for good food. We succeed most of the time in the trip and this had no exception! The spaghetti was the best for 3 main reasons: 1. It's al dente. 2. Every single spaghetti on the plate were having the same tenderness and chewiness. 3. Ingredients as simple as spaghetti (and spices) only!! The last reason is always one of my measurement of the food. The simplier the dish, the more difficult to make it impressive.


It's just basic spaghetti with garlic and basil. Unlike what happened quite often with a plate of normal quality spaghetti, not even one spaghetti of this one was softer or harder than the rest on the plate. There was no sudden and abrasive sand/ rock-like texture pumped up when I was enjoying the whole plate. And no two spaghetti stuck together. Of course the spices were just enough to taste didn't make me drank bottles of water afterwards.


I also ordered another veggie dish - butter bean! I like butter bean a lot because of its creamy taste.

Unfortunately, I could not find the name of the restaurant. I still wanna recommend to it even I don't have the name. Here is the front door of the restaurant. It's own by a couple.

Best risotto @ Malborghetto, Siena

Siena is one of the cities famous for Tuscan wine and cuisine - The "cock wine" is one of the good example. Well... it's called Chianti classico, with the eye-catching cock logo. It was just me and my friend, and both of us can't drink much. Most restaurant/ wine bar don't offer the wine in glass. Therefore I didn't have the chance to take a sip ='[

However, I did tried something really good. The B-E-S-T-! The risotto I had in Siena ranked number 1 among all the food I had in Italy! It is a zucchini and saffron risotto. Three (main) ingredients, as simple as that. All fragments of the spices and freshness of the ingredients were absolutely balanced. Nothing too outstanding, nothing hiding from my taste bud. It's harmonised like floating peacefully on the water.

And look at the beautiful scenic behind! Yaaaaaa, I was eating outdoor, under the sun with mild wind. The weather was as perfect as the food! The restaurant was Malborghetto, which locates below the Piazza del Campo, at the end of the car park. The food are all in reasonable price.

The scene behind the restaurant is breath-taking. The car park is a balcony, which we can view a 270-degree down hill. The colourful, irregular, fair-tale houses are packed on both sides, and a green woodland/ farmland with streams and churches in front.

Siena is definitely worth for a visit.

Story after-------------------------------------

I attempted once to make the same risotto at home, but it was a failure O.o It tasted nothing like the one I had in Siena. Before I can make it again, the beautiful risotto stays in my memory only.
It looks not bad though.

Best Pizza@ Roma

What a nice Easter holiday in Italy!
I visited eight cities in twelve days! They are Roma, Pisa, Firenze, Viareggio, Siena, Venezia, Verona and Milano.

I wasn't a big fan of Italian cuisine, but now I am! I realised that the REAL italian food are hard to make outside the country. Once the oil, the spices, the vegetable and the weather are different, it's very difficult to reproduce the same taste. And most important, the mood and attitude of the chefs. From their dishes I could taste a strong passion, hard work, and respect to the food. Unlike the fast food pizza and frozen spaghetti, their food has a soul.

Most pizza I ate/ saw in Italy aren't seen outside the country. Traditional Italian pizza are usually thin and made in a long rectangle and sliced to serve in a pizza bar/ take-away store, or a big circle if it is served in a restaurant for one person. And there's a few vegan option and plenty vegetarian option! On the left was my favourite - sliced potato pizza! The ingredients (that I could distinguish) were just potato, salt and rosemary! (And the pizza dough of course) It's that simple and that lovely. Other vegan options are tomato with aubergine or spices.

This pizza bar was located two streets from our hostel. This is the approximate address: 20 Via di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme.

One night we went into a wine bar for dinner, without noticing it was specialised with wine. I kindly requested a vegan pizza and this came out......
It's a 16-inch pizza with tomato SAUCE only... not even tomato meat.
Anyway it's a wine bar only. This added laughters to our journal =]

Gentle Gourmet Cafe (and more...) @ Paris

How can we miss croissant in France? I found the BEST vegan croissant! A MUST-try in Paris!!

Gentle Gourmet Cafe is a fine dining vegan restaurant in the 12th district of Paris. I went there for a French breakfast. It's better to make a reservation a day before even for breakfast. The cafe opens at 8am. I was there at 8.15am, but it wasn't ready. Luckily, they let me in and waited.

I was very hungry and the kitchen was still warming up. I decided to order something quick: croissant and a cup of coffee with heavy cream =]

The croissant really surprised me. A vegan croissant is difficult to make well, as it requires a lot of butter to give the layering and fluffiness and the pleasant smell. Usually vegetable margarine can't replace it well, but this one has almost the same taste as a normal croissant!!

Plus it had a blink blink surface, which is usually a brush of egg. I guess it was a brush of soya milk and sugar mixture (learned in the vegan dessert class, write about that later).

A chocolate dip came separate. It tasted so much like nutexxx!! That's a bonus to me.

The coffee is good as well, and I was very satisfied with the heavy cream on it. It was smooth and light sweet.

The cafe was serving a late summer menu. Half an hour later my full breakfast came to the table. I ordered a creamy scramble tofu with baguette.

The ingredients in the scramble tofu was a perfect match: smoked vegan ham, mushrooms, shallots and asparagus. Especially the asparagus made a well balance with the  sauce. One fresh and light, one creamy and heavy. The smoked vegan ham was firm tofu strips actually. If you expected something resembles ham, that might be a bit disappointing. I'm a big fan of tofu products, so again that was a bonus for me! The baguette was herbed rather that just plain.



The meal was quite cosy, but imagine how many times you can try a vegan croissant! At least chill for an hour or two with a coffee and the vegan croissant there!!

I had a nice Italian pizza and ice-cream... Check the ice-cream store and you may be surprised how many vegan flavour they had... the one I went had 6~7! The pizza was a take-away near the Sacre Coeur. Simply order a vegetarian pizza without cheese, then it turns into a vegan pizza =] The ingredients were abundant: aubergine, olives, tomato, mushrooms, pepper, etc. The pizza was baked fresh after the order. The base was a medium.

Country Life @ Prague

For the three days I stayed in Prague I relied on Country Life and Loving Hut. Since I don't know the language, it was quite hard to discover some other veggie restaurant/ cafe by accident.

Both of serves vegan buffet, which was paid by weight. As I remembered, it's around 30Kč /100g in County Life and 23Kč /100g in Loving Hut. However, County Life provides happy hour discount after 3pm. Large plate costs 139Kč and a bowl costs 90Kč. They were both good =] Especially in Country Life, I had the chance to try a traditional Czech dessert - Makový závin (Poppy seed roll). I loved it so much! The texture was bread-cake like, which rich filling of poppy seed. Poppy seeds are used as a decoration in bakery in West Europe, but here it's a main ingredient for many dishes.

The menu in Country Life changes daily, especially for the dessert, it's only by luck to get the desire one. They usually make a few, and as long as it's sold out, you'll have to wait tomorrow or a few days later......


For the main course, as you can see I grabbed a bit of ten (or more) items: chili, tempeh, cuscus, salad, germinated brown rice, etc. They also sell sandwiches and burgers and take away sweeties etc in the health store next door. And there's a small store for vegan cosmetic and skin products!

Don't miss the peanut butter bagel in Bohemia Bagel if you're a peanut butter (crazy) person (like me). The peanut butter was homemade, very smooth and creamy with a lit bit of chunky peanuts inside. I finished the whole dip even there was no bread at the end! Just use the fork to eat it directly =p

Köstlich @ Wien

There was not much time to look for a veggie place in Wien. Asian fast food is quite common in the city centre, and most of them provide veggie options. On the 2nd day I walked away on my own for a veggie lunch. The 1st place I visited was Treff cafe. It is a small cafe with only the daily special (as I could read from the menu standing outside). It's something vegetarian with cheese. I didn't feel like having its daily special, and decided to move on to another side of the town. When I arrived another veggie restaurant Bio Bar von antun, it was not open. I was quite hungry by that time......

Luckily there was another veggie cafe at the back of Bio Bar von antun. It's Köstlich Reformhaus.





It was 1 o'clock and the house was full of customers. They served one vegetarian and one vegan soup/ main course/ dessert everyday. They served it like a fast food chain, which the food was prepared, we order and pay and take the food at the counter all at once. I ordered the vegan option in normal size, which was a mixed veggie in tomato sauce and soy feta cheese! There were aubergine, zucchini, potato, etc. It came with 2 scoops of jasmine rice (ya they used an ice-cream scoop to measure the proportion of rice). The amount of rice was too little for me ><" Luckily, the organic brown bread was all-you-can-eat. I was filled up properly with an extra 2 slices of bread. I liked the bread, it tasted nature and soft.

The vegan dessert was sold out ><" Since the house was so crowded, I left soon after the meal was finished...

Continue in Praha......

Max Pett @ München (Part I)

Ya... This is part one in München. I enjoyed my dessertsssssssss in Tushita tea house after I had my lunch in Max Pett. Max Pett is a proper vegan restaurant. It's 10 minutes walk from München main train station. It situated at a side street, so the out door seats are quiet and nice.

When I arrived it was still serving a buffet breakfast. It's 10.5euro (as I could remember) all-you-can eat.

As mentioned it was hot and sunny. The thing I wanted most after the 10-minute walk from main station was something fresh. I ordered the spring salad from the special menu.

When the salad came to my table, I had to say it pretty!! "Pretty" is not a phrase for food but it really did look good! Look at the nice daisy~
The golden balls are tempeh. Besides the greens there were avocado and a sweet-and-sour dip (Thai sauce).



Another order on the table was this main course, from the weekly menu 23-29th April. It's grilled veggie in orange sauce. I would like to highlight the potato wedge, which is just-well-and-evenly-baked! Not too old nor too raw, and unlike some which are partly cooked and partly raw.




The little drawback for this restaurant was the waitress messed up with our order. We was ordering a pasta main course but it came up with this potato dish (anyway it's good). We ordered one juice and it came up with three and forgot the ice chocolate beverage. May be it's due to the language thing... My Deutsch is pretty basic, just enough to understand the menu but need to place my order in English. I guess next time stated clearly my order will help.

Last but not least, the dessert! Ya, I had dessert already before I visit Tushita. Wonder why I gained 3kg after the trip =p It's ICE-CREAM!! Do you know how much I miss ICE-CREAM! Soy milk and soya burger fillets are easily found around my neighbourhood, but no soy ice-cream ='[

In Max Pett there were a few kinds of ice-cream and they even had "banana boat". Banana boat is something full in my childhood's memory. An ice-cream bowl with 3 cones and a whole banana =] But that day I had no one willing to share ice-cream with me, therefore I ordered a single scroop. Besides vanilla/ chocolate these kind of common flavour, they had Nougat ice-cream. It came with a waffle biscuit!

Being a vegan is not easy, but not as difficult as imagined. It's really thankful that nowadays there are so many nice plant-based food like all those I had in the trip.

Always be thankful for what we can eat and we can eat =]

Continue in Wien......

Tushita @ München (Part II)

The best vegan cake I tried ever in Tushita Teehaus!!!

I tried 5 pieces of cake/ tarte/ roll in total! Not in one tea though, I ate 3 inside and took away another 2 for breakfast next morning. I could barely tell those were vegan cakes. They're thick and rich, so yummmmy and unforgetable.

The first one I ordered was apple crumble. I was craving for one for quite a while (and home-baking was not successful yet) The crumbles are really crispy, the tart is well baked. It's luscious! The thing I loved most was the apple with skin on top. The only drawback was its small size... or I just loved it too much =p

The special drink was grapefruit lemo. What a perfect match with the apple crumble! It's light and cold, with freshness from grapefruit and a well-balance between sweet and sour. Suits a hot and sunny day.

The tea house is decorated in Japanese style, with traditional East Asian teapot, etc. Pleasing and claiming.

Okay, go back to the cakessss.
Another one I would recommend is the black sesame cake. The cake itself was a normal thick sponge cake. The part needed to be highlighted was the black sesame jam on top. It's full of sesame amour, creamy and with layered texture of sesame seeds.

(The fresh orange juice at the back was my mum's order)
(Actually this sesame cake was her choice as well but I ended up finishing it)


The third one came this veggie roll. The filling was good, with mixed veggie and firm tofu.

The thing made it an average was the pastry. The layering of the pastry was not sharp and crispy enough. Also, I ate it at room temperature, may be it's better when it's warm?
So far I haven't had any really impressive vegan roll, may be someone can suggest me one ;]

Then, I was full finally......
So I took away two more as breakfast next morning.


This ginger cake is similar to the sesame cake. It had a pleasant and delight smell of ginger. The topping was icing sugar instead of sesame jam. It's not spicy even though the ginger flavour was outstanding, but managed to keep the ginger stimulation to my tongue. Definitely go for it if you're a ginger lover.

The last one was the Gouqi cake. I chose it because of the gouqi. What is gouqi? I checked Wikipedia, it has an English name as "wolfberry". It's something my mum use often in cooking and herb tea, and sometimes steams rice with some. It's good for eyes and kidney, and a common Chinese medicine ingredient.

It's the first time I tried it on a dessert! The filling was similar to cheese cake, with a thin jelly-like topping and a few whole wolfberries. Again, the pastry was crispy. The tart was a bit citrious. May be because it stayed overnight outside fridge? It's difficult to decide it's good or not...

Continue in München......

Culux/ Edekiosk @ Frankfurt

Just back from a 10-day trip around mid-Europe!! Beautiful scenic and of course great veggie food!

How can we survive in Germany without sausage!? Good new for all vegetarians and vegans, we can find veggie sausage in Culux. Both vegetarian and VEGAN!! Culux is a sausage restaurant. They are serving around 10 different kind of sausages with a variety of sauce. I tried the vegan sausage with typical curry sauce. There are 5 degree of spiciness and I picked the 2nd most spicy.

The curry sauce really impressed me. It's SUPERRRR spicy (which I enjoy)! Look all the spicy on the sausage! <<
The vegan sausage was made with tofu skin. I guessed the chef rolled the tofu skin tightly to make the sausage.  Tofu skin is something I really miss from home ><" It's  uncommon in a western cuisine even in veggie places.

The sausage can be served in a meal with fries and salad. I ordered it with salad only because I need to reserve some space for my dessert......

Edekiosk is a vegan bakery/ cafe. It's quite new. A few kinds of cakes and beverage are served everyday. The day I visited they had vanilla and chocolate cupcake, coconut mandarin cake and chocolate banana cake.

I felt like something creammmmy therefore I picked the chocolate banana cake, with a cup of soja-cappuccino =] The cake tasted very homemade. The sweetness was just right. The chocolate cream is creamy but can be a bit thicker. And it had fresh banana slice in between =]

I took away a piece of coconut mandarin cake as breakfast for next morning. After a night in the fridge it still taste good! Personally, I perfer the coconut mandarin cake. Coconut an mandarin gave a shocking match on my tongue and the pastry was crispy. 

The only thing not good about this cafe was the theme colour. Blue usually doesn't make people feel too much appetite... But the sofa were comfortable and they provides a few readings and magazines about vegan cooking.

Continue in München......

à La Soupe @ Luxembourg

~ Spoonfull ~

Veggie Soup

Finally I recovered from the Luxembourg trip... It was quite exhausting, but also joyful~
The weather was nice with intervals of sunshine and cloud, and it didn't rain until the last day before I got onto the train.

During the trip I enjoyed plenty of veggie food! Some from EXKi, and the most remarkable one was the soup from à La Soupe! I didn't asked about the ingredient, though I managed to figure out some - potato, onion and maybe some zucchini?? And No dairy! It contained no salt and fat as well, which is a pretty healthy option.It was served with a piece of organic bread as well. The bread was fluffy and natural , good enough for a bread-lover like me!

The size was huge - I guessed more than 1/2 liter... With the bread and potato, definitely fills you up! And don't forget its interial design. It was elegant, bright and warm, like its soup =]

Besides, if you are staying in the Youth hostel, its canteen Melting Point provides a buffet salad bar which 7~8 sorts of veggies plus bread plus 2 choices of soup. Sometimes the soup is vegan (the one I saw was legume). It's just 5 euro and ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT! The day I tried the salade bar there was cus cus, lettuce, carrots, cucumber with sweet corn, raddish, shallot, etc. They also provided a few kinds of sauces. I liked the spice sauce most - truely spice!